Many vehicles incorporate sliding vehicle doors to make opening and closing doors easier. This is particularly true for vehicles that have larger, heavier doors that are difficult to swing. Even with the help of a sliding mechanism, however, many sliding doors are still too heavy and cumbersome to move without some form of mechanical assistance.
Door actuation systems may be incorporated to assist users in opening and closing a vehicle door. The actuation systems generally include a detector that detects when a user is starting to move a door and a motor mechanically coupled to the door to move the door in the same direction as the detected movement. The motor can either provide limited power to assist the user in door movement or provide enough power to move the door on its own, without requiring any user assistance. Currently available door actuation systems tend to have complex structures with many moving parts, however, making fabrication cumbersome and expensive.
There is a desire for a simplified door actuation system that can assist users in opening and closing sliding vehicle doors.